Busy season is upon us. I know this because I’m frantically trying to download as many “productivity” applications on my iPad, iPhone, iMac and MacBookPro. (Downloading these apps won’t suddenly make my lists shorter… but they’ll make them prettier!) (And yes, I listed out all my gadgets because I am a NERD and revel in all things technology. Please, Apple and Stevie Jobs, for the sake of my bank account and marriage, do not make any more gadgets. Unless they’ll help with my productivity.)

Busy season means that I’m behind in emails. Really really behind. So if you’re waiting on a response from me, a million gazillion apologies. It also means that I’m trying to revamp everything: website, products + packaging, perfectionising my Mentor Sessions (yes, perfectionising is a real word), and possibly getting a new studio manager. As well as an intern. But all of these things require lots and lots of time and money, the latter of which is being spent on aforementioned Apple products. And this is my dilemma. :)

But in spite of all this, I’m happy. Incredibly happy with everything that’s happened and happening. I have so much NEWS to share with you and I’m bursting at the seams to write it all out now. But alas, the timing just isn’t right. Perhaps the next blog post? Or the next next one? Yes. Until then, please enjoy these photos of pretty Penny and her beautiful family. Thank you oh beautiful family for being such wonderfully willing subjects. But most of all, thank you Penny for your ability to crack me up with your affable + extremely lovable nature. :)

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What’s news in your world? Anything exciting to share? And on the subject of iPhones and iPads, Consumer Christine would appreciate any application “musts” that she should download!! :)

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I’m sure that’s not what my mentee, Sandy, wants to be forever known as: “Adelaide Sandy.” But I can’t help it. This talented mother of two travelled all the way from beautiful RADelaide to spend a day with me to learn, shoot, edit, chat, organise, price, plan, market and HAVE FUN! :) There must be something pretty magical that connects me with my blog readers – because after talking to her for all of ten minutes, I already knew we’d be great friends. In fact, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I always connect with my mentees. And I feel so very lucky that they all become such wonderful people in my life!

Sandy, you have every talent in the world and have such a wonderfully natural eye for photography. (Not to mention your awesome way with the kids!!) I just know that this year is going to be great for you and I can’t wait to see where your photography journey takes you. Above all, I’m so pleased that our mentor session has motivated you to get a website + blog + your business running. I can’t wait to see it all when it’s ready!! Can’t wait to catch up again! xoxo

And to our wonderful models: thank goodness the weather played nice, hey? :) You guys were absolutely lovely models, and Karen: thanks again for bringing your kids along for our shoot! We had a great time getting to know your family and hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for us! :)

[FYI: To those interested in Mentor Sessions, I've added more dates to this year so I'll try my best to accommodate you all! :) If you'd like more info, please message me via email and I'll send through the flier!]

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Husband recently turned the big 3-0. Yup… We are officially adults! :) To celebrate this awesome milestone, I booked us tickets to Fiji not that long ago and gave hubby the honour of planning it all. Whatever he wanted to do; wherever he wanted to stay. I promised I’d be game so long as it didn’t involve jumping into caves and swimming with eels (he tricked me into doing this last year in New Zealand… and since then I vowed never to let him plan a holiday again. Until now that is).

We had the best holiday of our lives. Not only did we celebrate his 30th, we got to celebrate our two year wedding anniversary: a lifetime in celebrity years! :) We took the Yasawa Flyer (a big big boat) and cruised out to the Yasawa Islands (4.5 hours away!) and spent nearly a week in isolation with the locals. It was seriously one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen in my life. Everything about this trip was so magical. Meeting the local Fijians. Sharing in a ritual bowl of Kava. Snorkeling and swimming in the clear blue waters. Eating freshly caught fish and lobster. Making friends with other tourists. It was just perfect. Husband did the awesomest job planning the best trip ever.

I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking. :)
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Super siblings. What are super siblings? Well. They have a keen sense of cuteness and more cuteness. They are a united front of two or more. And they inexplicably say and do the funniest things.

Case in point “a”: When asked what outfit he was going to wear, Caleb said he needed big sister Serafina to help. But when she put together a pair of plaid shorts and a Paul Frank hoody (yes, they have ridiculously trendy closets), his eyes widened as he dramatically said, “But they don’t go with my Paul Frank pants!” Not an emphatic “NO” to the plaid shorts; but rather, the top just didn’t match the pants as he’d hoped. (Note to self: Concerned that children know more brand names and labels than you? You should be.)

Case in point “b”: While wandering through the woods to find the “perfect” spot for our photos, I nearly walked right into a spiderweb. I stopped just in time, but that didn’t stop me from letting out a bloodcurdling scream. “What happened??” the kids asked. I pointed to the web and the tiny spider that was dangling from it and explained how I had almost died. Serafina agreed that it was a ‘scary spider.’ “That’s why I let Caleb go first.” Hehehe. Brilliant. (Second note to self: Make children walk ahead during shoots so to destruct the spider webs before I walk through them!)

Case in point “c”: Caleb and Serafina proved to be quite pros in front of the camera. Little Isabella, however, was a bit more shy. Both her sister and brother warned me that Isa wasn’t going to ham it up for me… until Serafina said, “Ooh but she loves to dance!” and started singing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” at the top of her lungs. Sure enough, within seconds Isabella started wiggling her bum with her hands on her little two year old hips. It was one of the cutest things I’d ever seen. (Third note to self: When dealing with shy children, start belting out “Single Ladies” and see what happens.)

Super siblings. They make my job fun. And they give me super duper tips for future photo sessions. :)

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There are lots of art prizes throughout the world. Local, state and national contests. International competitions. And while each of these contests add much value to the art world, only one can boast the title of “the wealthiest photographic and portrait prize in the world”: The Moran Prize (consisting of both The Doug Moran National Portrait Prize and The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize.)

Every year, thousands of photographers and artists submit the best of their best to The Moran Prize: work that symbolises contemporary Australian life. When the contest deadline came about a few months ago, I thought about it for a few seconds and thought, “What are the odds of ever getting anything out of this thing?” and thought nothing more of it. Until my good buddy Dan rang me up. “Pookles, you’re entering, right?? The deadline is tonight!” he exclaimed. “Nah… I’m still a newb. I think I’ll focus on the local awards and try to enter next year,” I said. I was being totally sincere – I didn’t want to stress myself over entering something only to be disappointed. (My new little art ego is sensitive and needs a bit of hand-holding.) “Christine.” (He never calls me ‘Christine,’ so I knew he was trying to be serious.) “Christine, what have you got to lose? Enter that image of the boy in the woods. You have to. It’s brilliant.” What did I have to lose, aside from a bit of pride? “You’re right Dizz. I’ll get to work on it. Eeep! Hope I make the deadline!” And off I went.

I entered.

I waited.

I told myself to forget about it and thought nothing more.

Until.

That beautiful fateful day. I had just flown from Sydney to Los Angeles (en route to Seattle) and checked my email while waiting for my connecting flight. In my inbox was a message from The Moran Foundation. It read:

“Dear Christine, Congratulations on your selection! Your work titled, ‘Alone’ is one of the 2010 Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize finalists. Please find attached your image and instructions for your attention. I wish you every success for the winners’ announcement on Tuesday 10th August 2010.”

I immediately called my husband to share the news. And then I forwarded the email to Dan, along with this brief message:

“HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!! PS just landed in lax PPS thanks for encouraging me to enter this, dizz. Loves you!!”

Out of over 240,000 entries, I was selected as one of FORTY finalists for The Moran Contemporary Photographic Prize. I KNOW, RIGHT???? To say that this moment was momentous is a vast understatement. It was exhilarating. It was inspiring. It was goosebumpy. It made my heart jump and pound and leap. I wanted to tell everyone at LAX but I knew no one would care. :) However, all of this excitement wasn’t only due to the fact that the Moran Prize recognised my work; I was excited because I knew that I had such a supportive group of peers and family members that had my back. I was excited that I could share this moment with them; and this moment served as a reminder that none of my successes are ever achieved alone. (Which is ironic as the work I had entered into the Moran Prize was entitled, “Alone.”)

Thank you, Dan, for convincing me to put myself out there. And congratulations on becoming a fellow finalist (two years in a row!!) AND Commended Awardee! I can’t be more proud of you than I am right this minute. :) You deserve all of your successes and I’m so happy to know you and have you in my life. And thank you Todd + Alyda for accompanying us to the State Library of NSW on the Awards Night (all the portraits and photographs are being exhibited here for free until 5 September, so check it out if you have a chance!) – it was so great to spend the evening with you all! :)

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And the finalist-making shot (in case you were curious):

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This post is about a beautiful family of five. A family who got their hair did (well the girls did), brought their Vespa (well, dad’s Vespa), and were just amazing to photograph. I was totally in the zone every second of their session. So much so that I ended up filling up over 32 gigs of memory cards. No joke. :)

Dad and mom, thanks for being so lovely and IN LOVE. And letting it show. You can tell how much your kids adore seeing you in love… and I’m so honoured that I got to take the first set of LOVE photos of the two of you. You both deserve to have keepsakes like this.

Apologies again for the delay in posting these, oh beautiful family! I hope you love them as much as I do. :) xoxo

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Enjoy your preview, Oh-Ridiculously-Beautiful-Family!! :) Thanks so much for a heartwarming session, Jeff + Tivona. You and your beautiful brood make me very clucky… Very clucky indeed. :)

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And every second of their beautiful wedding was absolutely worth the distance. Both of their gorgeous families so very welcoming, I felt as if I had married into their families as well!! So thank you, dear Toninos, for allowing me into your lives and into your homes for this very special occasion. Your wedding was ridiculously gorgeous, and no amount of rain could’ve ruined it!! It’s certainly a wedding I’ll never forget (officially my first destination wedding!) so thank you a million times over for giving me this opportunity.

Also, I have to give a special shout out to my amazing friend, Johnna, who flew all the way from Missouri to second shoot this wedding with me. What a blessing the internet has been – had it not been for Facebook, I’d have never met Johnna: officially the world’s best second shooter ever . :) Thanks for coming all the way up to CT to experience this with me, J! See you at the Sarah Rhoads Workshop in November! :)

PS To all those who’ve enquired about the gorgeous bride’s dress: Yes, it’s custom made. Yes, it’s 100 percent silk. Yes, it’s ridiculously beautiful. (See more of Chrissy Wai-Ching’s dresses here.)

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That’s the thing about besties: you can live half a world away, and still reunite once a year and truly treasure every minute spent. I treasured every second of my shoot with Caitlin and her wonderful husband Randall while in Seattle recently. It was not only special because I love them both so much, but because it was on their last day of living in Seattle before they embarked on their new adventure together: a move to Los Angeles, where Mr Randall is enrolling in medical school. Yes, that’s right: it’s DR Randy from now on!! :)

C + R: I love you both and miss you terribly. Hope the drive down was scenic and peaceful, and I can’t wait to hear all about your adventures as Californians! Don’t get too Valley on me now! :) xoxo

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It’s a bittersweet farewell (as most goodbyes are) and it’s safe to say that I’ve met some of the warmest, loveliest, huggiest, talented, most awesome people in my short visit to the Pacific Northwest. I do know, however, that kindred spirits are to meet again and again and again, so with that in mind, I’m happy to say goodbye to my friends temporarily. :)

So before I head to bed one last time in my parent’s home in Seattle, I share with you this love session of one of my most favourite couples ever and two of many new kindred spirits I’ve had the pleasure of befriending during my time here. Chris and Sarah, I shall see you in November in Canberra. I can’t hardly wait. :) Thanks for allowing me + Dan into your lives. We absolutely loved loved loved photographing you both. :)

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